Sunday, September 20, 2015

Some more reviews of the National Theatre Jane Eyre adaptation directed by Sally Cookson. In A Younger Theatre:

This devised play takes risks, most notably in the music. The folky accompaniment of the band works well, particularly in transitions between time and place, but it’s in the songs that the biggest surprises come, with ‘Mad About The Boy’ and ‘Crazy’ (Gnarls Berkley) the biggest gambles. Both pay off however, as the songs seem to take on a timeless quality and are delivered in the gorgeous vocals of Melanie Marshall – she also plays Bertha, and it’s perhaps a tad obvious, but her constant hovering presence throughout Jane’s adulthood is unnervingly effective.
Overall, this production is intelligent and captivating, with flashes of both witty humour and high drama that almost entirely dispelled my reservations about this page-to-stage adaptation. Certain striking images remain in fixed in your mind – the streaming veil, the poor schoolgirls’ dresses and Jane bursting open the window for a taste of freedom all spring to mind – but these powerful visuals are also backed by consistently strong performances. This is a wonderful opportunity for London audiences to encounter a taste of fantastic regional work – well worth a watch. (Laura Peatman)

The direction has some brilliant little twists. The recurring motif of Jane-as-caged-bird comes to a head when she arrives at Thornfield, where two members of the come behind her and flap her dress. The music soars - she is free - and the effect is beautiful. Jane's long, uncomfortable journeys by coach are inventively, hilariously captured by the entire cast running on the spot, side-by-side, panting and exhausted. Perhaps the most beloved of all the characters was Richard Hurst's Pilot the dog. More canine than human, his performance was a tour de force, complete with a wagging riding-crop tail, (...)One more quibble: the half-hearted and promptly aborted inclusion of the inheritance subplot, where Jane discovers a rich relative and her own small fortune. This is alluded to, and then dropped. Why include any mention of it at all?Nevertheless, this production was one of the most engaging things we'd seen on stage since Norris' tenure began. Beg, borrow or steal a ticket.

Today, "Wuthering Heights" is considered a masterpiece of English classics and one of the most complex and demonic love stories in literature.
It revolves around the intense and passionate love between Catherine and Heathcliff. The story mentioned impossible storms and the appearances of ghosts.

Anyone familiar with English literature likely has heard of the Brontë sisters, Charlotte, Emily and Anne. But who was their only brother — and how was he named?
Anyone who has taken a high school literature class likely has heard of the Brontë sisters — Charlotte, Emily and Anne. In the early 19th century, the English trio turned out a series of novels that have turned into classics, including “Wuthering Heights,” “Jane Eyre” and “The Tenant of Wildfall Hall.” However, like many women writers at the time, they used male pseudonyms early in their career, because they feared readers would not take women writers seriously. They became the Bell triplets — Currier, Ellis and Acton. But you may not have learned that there really was one son among the six Brontë children, and he, too, was a writer as well as a painter. He was named Branwell after his mother’s maiden name. Although he showed some promise, he died at age 31 of tuberculosis, likely aggravated by alcoholism and addiction to opium and laudanum. However, in Elizabeth Gaskel’s “The Life of Charlotte Brontë,” an eyewitness said that to show the power of the human will, Branwell insisted on dying while standing up “and when the last agony began, he insisted on assuming the position just mentioned.” (Roger Schlueter)